Sat 3 cable 'should be critical infrastructure'

The South Atlantic 3/West African Submarine Cable (Sat 3) that recently caused disruption to internet services due to a fault should be classed as critical infrastructure, according to the president of the Nigeria Internet Group, Lanre Ajayi.

He told Business Day that businesses relying on the submarine cable have suffered in terms of revenue and productivity because of the loss of connection at the country's end of the cable.

The 15,000-kilometre undersea fibre optic cable links Europe to countries on the west African coastline and South Africa, later going on to Malaysia. It is the only one of its kind serving the west of the continent.

Mr Ajayi said the cause of the fault was not yet known.

"We call on the federal government to do something about it quickly and declare that infrastructure a critical national resource because of its importance to the economy and to security," he added.

Severe problems have also been experienced with connectivity in Benin, Niger and Togo.